1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, an interruption management method, and computer program product.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been known image forming apparatus that have various functions such as a printer, a copier, a facsimile machine, and a scanner (hereinafter, “multifunction product”).
Some of multifunction products, specifically designed to be shared by a plurality of users, have an interruption function that allows interrupting a current job in action and then executing an interruption job that is accepted later. This interruption function is helpful, for example, during a mass copy job. One of multifunction products having the interruption function is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 3340299. The interruption function makes the multifunction product to improve its usability and its operation efficiency.
However, the multifunction product disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3340299 cannot exclude a non-authentic interruption process by a masquerade third party who pretends to be an authentic user. More particularly, while the authentic user of a current job in action is absent from the multifunction product, the masquerade third party pretending to be the authentic user can interrupt the current job and executes an interruption job. If the multifunction product charges based on jobs, a non-authentic interruption causes an inappropriate charge.